A new approach for cooling electronic devices is to utilize heat pipes to perform better heat dissipation. Cooling using heat pipes is quiet and efficient, heat pipes can be assembled in electronic devices with various configurations, such as connected to a printed circuit board in a notebook computer or portable electronics. Conventionally the printed circuit board should reserve enough space for disposing the heat pipe, and one ends of heat pipes can be connected to a semiconductor package or heating component.
A conventional electronic device using a heat pipe is disclosed in R.O.C. Taiwan Patent No. 501,792. One end (evaporating end) of a heat pipe is embedded inside a molding compound of a semiconductor package and is adjacent to a chip. The other end (condensing end) of the heat pipe is extended outside of the molding compound. However, there is no protection for the heat pipe for this package. The exposed end of the heat pipe can be easily damaged. Another problem is that it is difficult to partially embed one end of the heat pipe in the molding compound.
In another known technique, a heat pipe is assembled with a fin-type heat sink used for semiconductor packages. Normally the heat pipe is bent in U-shaped and crosses the fins of the heat sink. The bent portion of the heat pipe is exposed to the outside and protrudes from one side of the heat sink, resulting in higher risk of damages by collision.